Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 121,381 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,672 shares during the period. AbbVie accounts for approximately 0.6% of Kentucky Retirement Systems' investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in AbbVie were worth $21,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Saturna Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 486.1% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 676,176 shares of the company's stock worth $133,531,000 after purchasing an additional 560,808 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,171 shares of the company's stock worth $9,448,000 after purchasing an additional 15,550 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,453 shares of the company's stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AbbVie by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,556 shares of the company's stock worth $11,169,000 after purchasing an additional 10,768 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America lowered shares of AbbVie from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of AbbVie from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of AbbVie from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $206.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of AbbVie from $212.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AbbVie presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.35.

AbbVie Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ABBV traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $202.03. 5,879,957 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,370,269. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.41. AbbVie Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.58 and a fifty-two week high of $207.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market capitalization of $356.64 billion, a PE ratio of 84.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.58.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.82). AbbVie had a return on equity of 296.28% and a net margin of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AbbVie Inc. will post 12.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. AbbVie's payout ratio is currently 273.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin K. Buckbee sold 1,800 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.24, for a total value of $310,032.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,202,751.92. The trade was a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AbbVie Company Profile

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.